If you ask 100 people walking down the street, “What are the brakes for on your car?” Most people will answer, “They slow you down, or stop the car.” A couple years ago I would have answered the same way; brakes are for slowing down or stopping the car. But I recently uncovered the truth, and that is brakes are used for improving performance. I went through several phases of thinking to get to this realization:
- Beginner: Brakes are used for stopping or slowing down the car (Thank you Driver’s Ed.)
- Intermediate: Brakes are for managing risk; to prevent you from having an off or crashing your car (Thank you self-preservation instinct)
- Advanced: Brakes are used to improve performance. (Thank you Team Stradale )
I admit, at the beginning of my journey I was misguided. I aspired to be what they call a “late-braker” which entails going as fast and as deep into a corner as you dare, and then getting on the brakes like nobody’s business. At its core late-braking is basically avoiding the brakes to the fullest extent possible in order to maintain a higher rate of speed. It seems logical, right? You go as fast as you can for as long as you can…surely that must be the quickest way around the track.
However, my thinking was challenged this summer when I was introduced to a new technique. This technique involved breaking sooner, longer, and lighter. When I first heard this, I thought,
“How on earth will braking sooner and longer make me go faster?”
I’ll spare you the physics lesson, but in summary this technique allowed me to get on the throttle sooner coming out of the corners which resulted in a much faster exit speed. Faster speed coming out of the corner, means faster times in the straightaways, and faster overall lap times. And voilà, braking made me go faster; more specifically though, it was how I was braking that made me go faster. Braking at the right time, in the right place, and with the right intensity, improve my overall performance.
Back at the office
Ask 100 IT professionals,
“What are controls for?”
Most will answer,
“They slow you down. They are a distraction preventing us from serving the business.”
On rare occasion you may get an enlightened IT professional who says,
“Controls help you manage risk.”
But, it is inconceivable to most that a control might actually improve performance. It is for this reason so many IT organizations fight controls and look at them as a hindrance. You can’t really blame them; there aren’t many IT organizations that have seen a control designed to improve performance . But the fact is, you can design a control that manages risk AND improves performance and you can achieve this through Performance-Based Control Design.
Performance-Based Control Design is a paradigm shift in the way we look at controls. Performance-Based Control Design takes all aspects of your business into consideration; the industry you work in, the clients you serve, your business objectives, and your IT operations. Performance-Based Control Design is not about avoiding controls, but rather harmonizing your controls to be in tune with your business. Controls applied at the right time, in the right places, and with the right intensity, not only improve performance but reduce costs, improve business agility, and help you effectively manage risk. Performance-Based Control Design demands that improved performance be a necessary outcome of effective control design.
If you still look at controls as something that slows you down, don’t be misguided. You’re about to get passed by the competition, because they know controls done correctly can be their most powerful performance weapon.
